The Guitars of Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen forever changed the world of guitar. Between his innovative finger tapping, iconic tone, and all around awe-inspiring playing, few people have left a legacy as impactful and permanent as EVH.

While just about everyone knows his legendary Frankenstrat, many of his other guitars are lesser known. However, all of his guitars play a role in his incredible career. So today, let’s take a look at the guitars of Eddie Van Halen. 

Eddie’s Early Years

Everyone starts somewhere, and the same is true for Eddie. So first, we’re going to look at some of the guitars he used in his early years prior to his Van Halen fame. 

Teisco Del Ray WG-4L

When Eddie came to the US as a kid, he bought himself a cheap drum set. However, his brother Alex would play it regularly, and Eddie realized Alex was better at drums than he was. Eddie decided to let Alex have the drums and switch to guitar. 

Around 1966-67, he bought a Teisco Del Ray WG-4L from Sears for around $100. Eddie says the four pickups caught his eye as a kid and drew him to that guitar. 

He couldn’t afford an amp at the time and played it unamplified. Eddie says that he would play it on the kitchen table, letting the wood amplify the guitar naturally. 

As for the guitar itself, it was a pretty standard cheap Japanese guitar for the time. However, Eddie buying this guitar is what would eventually lead to his long career as a guitarists. 

1969 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop

Eddie’s second guitar was a 1969 Goldtop Les Paul his father bought for him in 1969. It came with two P-90s, a white pickguard, mahogany neck and body, rosewood fretboard, and a Tun-o-Matic bridge. 

This was also the first guitar Eddie modified. He removed the pickup cover on the neck pickup and replaced the bridge P-90 with a full-sized humbucker. 

The Goldtop was his main guitar from 1969 until 1975 when the guitar was supposedly stolen. It was never found, but it could still be out there and identified since the serial number is known (539381). 

1958 Fender Stratocaster

Eddie got this guitar at some point after the Goldtop was stolen, but it didn’t last very long. According to a 1980 Guitar Player interview with Eddie, Alex and David Lee Roth both told him he couldn’t use a Strat due to the thin-sounding pickups. 

He sold the guitar to get something with humbuckers instead. However, this issue of liking Strats but not the pickups is what would eventually lead to the Frankenstrat. 

Ibanez 2387 Flying V

Supposedly, Eddie got this guitar to replace his stolen Les Paul. Very few photos or documentation exists for this guitar however. 

The guitar was a typical stock Flying V copy, though it seems like Eddie replaced the bridge humbucker at some point. His guitar also had no brand markings, which some speculate was to hide the fact it wasn’t a real Gibson. 

Like his Goldtop, this guitar also got stolen and was never found. 

1975 Ibanez Destroyer 2459

With his Flying V stolen, Eddie yet again needed to get a replacement. This time he went with a 1975 Ibanez Destroyer 2459 that was actually one of the first to leave the factory in Japan and make it to the US. 

While later photos of the guitar give a different impression, the guitar originally was basically an Explorer copy. Eddie however would make some very big modifications over the years. 

Soon after getting the guitar in 1976, he painted it white and replaced the knobs with Strat knobs. This is the state the guitar was in for recording Van Halen’s debut. 

At some point after that, he made more modifications. He cut the guitar into a shape that resembles Dimebag’s iconic guitars, though the rear bottom horn was shaped differently. He also did a red and white striped paint job, the beginnings of a pattern we’re all familiar with. 

He also swapped out the Super 70 pickups with different humbuckers and wired the pickups directly to the volume pots, leaving the guitar without a functional toggle switch.  

After doing all these mods, Eddie realized the guitar didn’t sound the same anymore and retired it shortly after. That said, he kept the guitar in his collection until his death and considered it an important part of his history. 

Gibson ES-335

Eddie played this ES-335 for a short period of time in 1976. He really liked the guitar and said he enjoyed experimenting with it. His bandmates however did not like the guitar.

According to Eddie, they joked that he looked like Roy Orbison or that it looked goofy for a “skinny punk kid” to be playing a “Ted Nugent ax.”

Like the Destroyer, Eddie also went a little too far modifying this one. He sawed the original tremolo in half so only the G, B, and high E were affected by it. He also used a belt sander to remove the finish for a repaint, but he accidentally sanded a hole in the top. 

The guitar was retired shortly after making all of the mods. 

1960s Fender Stratocaster

Eddie used this 1960s Strat in 1976 and 1977. The Fender logo is placed oddly on the headstock, indicating it might have been a replacement neck. 

Going back to the earlier story about his bandmates thinking Strats sounded too thin, Eddie routed out the bridge so he could swap in a humbucker. He also got rid of the original sunburst finish, painting it all white. 

What exactly happened to this guitar is unknown, but it seems some of the parts would end up making their way onto the Frankenstrat. 

Van Halen in Their Prime

With their debut in 1978, Van Halen quickly became one of the biggest bands of the late 70s. Now a famous and well-known guitarist, Eddie began to hone in on what he really wanted in a guitar. So let’s look at what guitars he used in Van Halen’s prime. 

Frankenstrat

The guitar we all know and love—the Frankenstrat. In 1977, Eddie purchased a factory second S-style body that would eventually become the iconic Frankenstrat.

Eddie claims he used a tremolo from a 1958 Stratocaster. However, Eddie sold his 1958 Strat years prior. It seems more likely that the tremolo actually came from his 1961 Strat. The neck also appears to be from the 1961 Strat.

He also made a custom pickguard since he was only using a bridge humbucker, using the pickguard to cover up the original routing. 

In 1977, Eddie painted the guitar entirely black, leaving the rest of the specs the same. Later that year though, he would make some more serious modifications. 

He repainted it again, this time adding white stripes. He added a Gibson sticker to the headstock as a joke. He also swapped the neck out with a custom wide and unfinished maple neck. He replaced the humbucker as well, likely taking it from his 335. 

This version of the guitar was used in 1977 and appears on the cover of their debut. In 1978, he modified the guitar again. This time he added two non-functional single coils, swapped out the pickguard for his 1961 Strat pickguard, and got a new rosewood neck. 

In 1979, he repainted the guitar again—finally landing on the iconic red finish with black and white stripes. He also swapped out the neck for a maple neck with a black headstock. Around this time, he started gluing reflectors to the back as well. 

He then added a Floyd Rose in 1980. The neck was also swapped for a new maple neck with a locking nut to help with tuning stability. The pickguard was replaced with a small custom one, only covering the volume knob. He also removed the middle pickup. 

Sometime around 1981 or 1982, he swapped in a gold-plated Floyd Rose and a new small pickguard cut from a Strat pickguard. He also changed out the neck again, this time going with a 22-fret Kramer neck that he sanded the logo off of. 

When working with Brain May a bit later, he swapped out the neck again. He would swap it again in 1983, this for a custom neck with a “beak” shaped headstock. This was also when he added the coin, which he used as a stopper for the Floyd Rose.

Dragon Snake Guitar

Missing his old Destroyer, Eddie bought the parts to assemble a similar guitar himself. However, he got bored with it and sent it out to Julian Sterry. Sterry carved the body to look like a dragon biting a snake, hence the name. 

At first, the guitar had a Danelectro neck and a white bridge humbucker. The neck would eventually be replaced multiple times, and the humbucker was swapped to a black one. 

The guitar was used occasionally in 1979 and 1980 before eventually being retired. Photos show the neck split from the body, so it seems like it was broken at some point. 

Bumblebee “Van Halen II”

Another iconic guitar, this one appears in the photos from Van Halen II. Eddie assembled this guitar himself from Charvel parts. 

He requested a body that could mount a pickup from the backing, eliminating the need for a pickguard to cover routing. It was painted black with yellow stripes. 

As with most of his guitars, he modded this one as well. He swapped the neck out multiple times, and same for the pickup. He also installed a Floyd Rose, which was the first he used. He then swapped pickups again, this time going with one he made himself. 

Bumblebee stopped being used in the early 80s. It would eventually get buried with Dimebag Darrell, with Eddie saying, “an original should have an original.”

Unchained/Rasta Guitar

This guitar started being used in the early 1980s, though little is known about it. It became known as the Unchained guitar since it was written on the back of the body. 

Later on, he decided to repaint it. He stuck with his typical striped style, but this time he drew inspiration from Rasta culture and went with red, green, black, and yellow. 

The neck was removed and it sat unused for years until he gave the body to Dweezil Zappa, who still uses the guitar. 

Petschulat Little Guitars - #13 and #16

Eddie bought these tiny guitars from David Petschulat. They are essentially micro Les Pauls. The first had mini-humbuckers, while Eddie requested that the second have full sized humbuckers. 

He famously used #13 on the song “Diver Down,” and he used both of them for live performances of the song. While they might not be his most used or famous guitars, they’re certainly interesting oddities. 

Kramer Doubleneck

Another oddity, Eddie used this custom Kramer double neck for live performances of the song “Secrets.” However, he used a Gibson double neck for the studio recording. 

This guitar was retired in the early 1980s, only being seen on occasion in his studio. 

Kramer 5150

Eddie had this guitar made after retiring the Frankenstrat, and it was clearly designed to be similar to that guitar. It was his main guitar from then until he got his Music Man EVH. 

Surprisingly, little is known about this guitar. The body appears to be ash and the pickup a custom Seymour Duncan ‘59, but this isn’t confirmed.  

1985 and On

To wrap things up, let’s look at the guitars Eddie used in the later portion of his career. While not as iconic as the Frankenstrat or Bumblebee, these guitars still played an important role in his life. 

Steinberger GL-2T 5150

This guitar was made for Eddie in 1986 by Jeff Babicz of Steinberger. It came with a custom Frankenstrat inspired paint job and two EMG humbuckers. Eddie particularly liked the TransTrem, which allowed for the guitar to be easily tuned down. 

In 2016, Eddie had the guitar rebuilt with vintage EMGs, new frets, and an improved TransTrem.

Music Man EVH 5150

As Kramer went bankrupt, Eddie decided to switch to Music Man. This guitar was custom designed for Eddie, and it quickly became his main guitar at the time. 

It has a uniquely shaped basswood body, two DiMarzio humbuckers, a Floyd Rose, a single volume knob, and a neck modeled after his Kramer 5150 neck. 

Music Man EVH Doubleneck

This guitar was also custom made for Eddie by Music Man. This six string portion is similar to his EVH 5150, but the other half was a six string bass with Danelectro style lipstick pickups. He used this guitar for live performances of “Spanked.”

Peavey EVH Wolfgang

In 1995, Eddie decided to leave Music Man and went with Peavey instead, allegedly favoring the larger size and scale of Peavey's manufacturing operation. This guitar was very similar to the EVH 5150  but with some key changes. 

It features a carved top and full binding, custom Peavey humbuckers, and a Floyd Rose with a DeTuna, allowing him to easily go to drop D. Eddie actually owned the patent for the DeTuna as well. This was his main guitar from 1996 until 2004. 

Unique Guitars for a Unique Player

Eddie Van Halen was a true individual in the world of guitar. He was an innovater, creating and popularizing new techniques that would go on to change how people play guitar to this very day, and his guitars reflect that. 

He played tons of guitars throughout the years, constantly modifying them and looking for the perfect guitar. He never stopped searching for new sounds in his playing, and the same goes for his guitars.
So take up the spirit of Eddie and find your sound. Make some mods to your guitars and create something new, and don’t forget to put on some Stringjoys while you’re at it!